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| Welcome to the Claymanite. |
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In this issue of The Claymanite, we will be continuing the two series we began in our last issue. For our "PR doesn't just mean Product Release" series, we'll review Case Studies and how they can add some "umph" to a PR program. For our Integrated Marketing Series, we'll talk about the Social Media ecosystem, or how an Integrated Marketing campaign can be executed using only Social Media tactics and sites.
With all of this talk about marketing plans, we thought it would be nice to discuss something a little different as well. As we have been covering over the last few issues, Apple's newest innovation, the iPad, will be released in the next few days. We have some food for thought as this new digital reader launches.
Enjoy! |
Digital Readers - Too Good to Be True?
 In these consumer driven early days of the 21st Century, a couple of old axioms still deserve to be considered: "If something looks too good to be true, it usually is" and "Buyer beware." One technological innovation after another seems to pop up with no let up in sight. Each one is touted as the next best thing. Among the newest are the digital readers with the very newest being the much anticipated Apple iPad.
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The Social Media Ecosystem
 In our last issue of The Claymanite, we reviewed what Integrated Marketing is, or at least what Integrated Marketing meant two years ago. We also mentioned that Integrated Marketing was going to have to change to include new Social Media tactics. However, before we can talk about how to integrate traditional media with Social Media, we need to explore one little detail. A company can conduct an Integrated Marketing campaign using just Social Media tactics now. How is that possible? Let us explain.
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Build a Case Study, Build Your Corporate Image
 As we noted in our last edition of the Claymanite, we will be digging deep into the world of Public Relations and the fact that PR doesn't just mean "Product Release." Public Relations is all about obtaining favorable publicity, building a good corporate image, and establishing a relationship with key customers. There are clearly more ways to achieve these objectives other than press releases. In this e-newsletter, we'll discuss Case Studies and why they are important for a Public Relations program. |
Continuing Blogs from a Mad Man
Larry has updated the look of his blog. His newest post discusses a place to get away. Read Larry's blog and voice your opinions! |
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Five Reasons Why 2000 is already "the old days"
Here are 5 more reasons why 2000 can now be called the "old days."
1. In the year 2000, reunions were still exciting because you did not know the intricacies of the lives of your friends, family members, and random acquaintances.
2. If you wanted to keep up on current events in 2000, you had to do something called "watching the news" or "reading the newspaper."
3. You actually had to sit through all of the commercial breaks, and if you were going to miss a show, you had to get a tape and set up your VCR!
4. Remember when people used to spell out words like "at," "for," and "thank you"?
5. People were worried the world was going to end. Actually, that hasn't changed much. I see you, 2012.
Stay tuned for five more reasons in our next issue, and don't be shy to share your own. We'll publish your ideas, too! |
Digital Readers - Too Good to Be True?
In these consumer driven early days of the 21st
Century, a couple of old axioms still deserve to be considered: "If something looks too good to be true, it usually is" and "Buyer beware." One technological innovation after another seems to pop up with no let up in sight. Each one is touted as the next best thing. Among the newest are the digital readers with the very newest being the much anticipated Apple iPad.
In February of this year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) responded to these last innovations with a white paper entitled "Digital Books and Your Rights: A Checklist for Readers." In this white paper, EFF declares a simple objective: to ask if digital books are "as good or better than physical books at protecting you and your rights as a reader."
With the release of Apple's iPad and the continuing expansion of reading and viewing materials available for download, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned that privacy, product, and legal concerns will be lost in the hype of the newest thing. Founded in 1990, EFF is a nonprofit, donor funded organization committed to defending "free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights" in the cutting edge technologies.
In its white paper, EFF identifies eight concerns of "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) and argues each requires thorough contemplation before completely buying into the wonder of digital books and publications.
The EFF 8 Point Checklist
The Electronic Frontier Foundation states upfront it does not want to "tell authors, publishers, vendors, libraries, or anyone else what strategies they must adopt, or tell purchasers what option they must choose." Rather, they just want to encourage everyone to look ahead before they leap. Following is a Check List EFF believes everyone should think about as we all move forward with these new technologies.
1. Does it (your e-book reader/service/tool, etc.) protect your privacy?
2. Does it tell you what it is doing?
3. What happens to additions you make to books you buy, like annotations, highlights, commentary?
4. Do you own the book or just rent or license it?
5. Is it censorship-resistant?
6. Is it burdened with digital rights management ("DRM")?
7. Does it promote access to knowledge?
8. Does it foster or inhibit competition and innovation?
Each of these questions generate more questions all of which need to be addressed and resolved to maintain the rights and privileges we have long held when it comes to what and how we read. Writers, publishers and providers, and now readers must remain attentive to these concerns to assure that digital books and readers are as good as they look.
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The Social Media Ecosystem
In our last issue of The Claymanite, we reviewed what Integrated Marketing is, or at least what Integrated Marketing meant two years ago. We also mentioned that Integrated Marketing was going to have to change to include new Social Media tactics. However, before we can talk about how to integrate traditional media with Social Media, we need to explore one little detail. A company can conduct an Integrated Marketing campaign using just Social Media tactics now. How is that possible? Let us explain.
It's An Ecosystem, But What's In It?
About a month ago we attended a webinar on Facebook and Twitter by Rick Burnes, Marketing Manager at HubSpot, an internet marketing software company that helps businesses get found online. In the webinar, Burnes talks about Social Media as a kind of self-sufficient ecosystem, where different tactics supplement and support each other to create a strong, measurable campaign. In examining this concept further, we found that the idea of a Social Media ecosystem is resonating across the marketing world. The tricky thing is that because Social Media is so new, and the idea of Integrated Marketing is still fairly new, defining the ecosystem is not as easy as agreeing that there is one.
The biggest obstacle in the way of defining "THE" Social Media ecosystem is the large amount of confusion regarding how to define Social Media itself. Most people agree on a few things. For example, a lot of people will mention Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn when asked to describe Social Media. But there is a lot of grey area beyond those basic sites. Some people consider YouTube a Social Media site because of the comments feature. For the same reason, other people consider image hosting sites like Flickr and Picasa Social Media sites. As we will cover in a future issue, some people also group webinars as Social Media because there is the opportunity for interaction. With that much disparity in how Social Media is categorized, it is not surprising that creating a single, easily defined ecosystem is difficult.
There is another reason why pinpointing a Social Media ecosystem can be difficult. A company may not use every traditional marketing channel available. By the same token, it is not necessary that any two companies use the same Social Media tactics. One company's ecosystem may be another company's poison. Indicating that there is a single Social Media ecosystem that is "one size fits all" can be, in fact, quite misleading.
How Does This Ecosystem Thing Work?
Knowing that there is not just one Social Media ecosystem, how does this whole concept translate into actual marketing? As we've said, the possibilities are just about endless. Here are some examples of marketing models that use Social Media sites exclusively.
The Blog as Hub: One of the most commonly recommended "ecosystem" models is one that uses a blog as the "hub" where all Social Media tactics lead. The blog, like a website, makes accessible key information. Tweets on Twitter or updates in Facebook can "tease" about a new blog post, driving fans and followers back to the blog page. The blog, in turn, can drive traffic funneled from the entire Social Media campaign back to the website, where leads can evolve into customers. This is one of the more simplistic "ecosystems," but if your company is trying to build a content-driven Social Media campaign, the "blog as hub" model is an effective path to choose.
Image Is King: If content is not something that is easy to generate, a Social Media campaign based on images can open the door to fun, interaction with fans and followers, and feedback. In this ecosystem, the driver of the campaign would be an image hosting site like Flickr or Picasa. There are a lot of ways images can be used in Social Media. A lot of companies ask customers to post photos of themselves with the product. These images can be imported into a blog, Facebook, or a slideshow of the images can be made into a video and posted to YouTube. This kind of Social Media ecosystem is also valuable when introducing a new product. Images of the product can be posted to Social Media sites where instantaneous feedback can be received from existing and potential customers.
Video Killed the Literature Star: That's not really true, but there's no doubt that sites like YouTube have opened up an entirely new marketing realm. Instead of just introducing a new product via a brochure, companies can now develop an entire video showing how the new product works, explaining its benefits, and more. This video, when posted to YouTube, can receive views and comments. By importing the video into Facebook, a fan page can go from static to highly interactive. Twitter and LinkedIn can drive traffic to the video. The video can even be submitted to digg.com, a site that lets people "digg" posts of all sorts. Getting a high ranking on digg is kind of like getting a news release published on page 2 of The New York Times.
These are just three possible Social Media ecosystem models. If Facebook or Twitter are not good matches for your company, no worries. There are plenty of other options to choose from. We've only touched the tip of the iceberg here.
If there are countless ways to conduct an Integrated Marketing campaign without Social Media and if there are plenty of ways to conduct Integrated Marketing using nothing but Social Media, how can a company get its arms around integrating both approaches together? Our next issue of The Claymanite will answer that question. Stay tuned! |
Build a Case Study, Build Your Corporate Image
 As we noted in our last edition of the Claymanite, we will be digging deep into the world of Public Relations and the fact that PR doesn't just mean "Product Release." Public Relations is all about obtaining favorable publicity, building a good corporate image, and establishing a relationship with key customers. There are clearly more ways to achieve these objectives other than press releases. In this e-newsletter, we'll discuss Case Studies and why they are important for a Public Relations program.
A Case Study, in a broad sense, is a collection and presentation of detailed information about a person, company, or group. For the purposes of Public Relations, a Case Study is a short description or story that explains a situation a company had to face and how they handled it. It's intended to be seen by prospects, customers, partners, and the media. Just like an ad or brochure, a Case Study should stand out from the crowd and be memorable. Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategist and Columnist for Forbes Magazine, identifies four valuable criteria for creating an effective Case Study.
1. Define the objective
2. Tell what you actually did
3. Define how you overcame the challenges
4. Provide a detailed analysis of your results
Here's an example of Owyang's four criteria in action. In 2003, Xerox wanted to demonstrate to small businesses the value of color printing and created a Case Study to address this objective. First Xerox explained the problem. In this case it was the fact that color printing was still considered more expensive than black-and-white and was an expense that small businesses only wanted to spend on a limited number of marketing pieces. Without introducing a new product, Xerox wanted to reignite interest in color printing and capture the attention of the large and growing small business market.
Next they told what they did and explained how they overcame the challenges. Xerox demonstrated how color could be a business builder for small businesses. The result was a campaign called Color Works, which was designed to supply Xerox with the needed research and validation. In order to obtain this information, Xerox conducted a national survey of more than 1,000 small businesses with less than 100 employees.
Finally Xerox provided an analysis of the results. The results of the survey were that the majority of small businesses associated the use of color in documents with successful business practices and a competitive advantage. To promote the results, Xerox selected customers in each geographic market to serve as examples of small businesses realizing the benefit of incorporating color documents in the workplace. Xerox also conducted a satellite media tour with a third party spokesperson to promote the research results. In the end they succeeded by getting people to consider color as a business need rather than a luxury item. Visibility-wise, the campaign generated over 300 stories delivering 36 million impressesions across print, broadcast and online media.
In short, a Case Study should address a problem or situation a company wanted to solve, how they solved it and the results of their accomplishments. To view a variety of Case Studies by some pretty well known brands click here.
In our next e-newsletter we'll discuss the importance of White Papers. Stay tuned. |
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Sincerely,
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